Lions tour tickets gone in 15 minutes

Kimani Situati of the Melbourne Rebels, left, the Premier of Victoria Ted Baillieu, centre, and Cooper Vanu of the Wallabies posed with the Tom Richards Cup last week in the countdown to the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour of Australia.
AFR

Tickets for the three Wallabies rugby union Test matches against the British and Irish Lions later this year sold out in 15 minutes after going on sale to the general public on Monday.

The Tests are being held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in June and July as part of the first Lions tour to Australia in 12 years.

The Lions are also playing each of the five Australian Super Rugby franchises, as well as a combined NSW and Queensland country team.

It is estimated up to 30,000 tourists will come to Australia from Britain and Ireland to follow the team. The popularity of the Lions will ensure a financial bonanza for the cash-strapped Australian Rugby Union, which has been unable to attract a local sponsor for Super Rugby, which kicked off last weekend. The ARU is forecasting a record profit of up to $30 million this year, after breaking even in 2012. As well as the Test matches, the ARU is taking commercial control of the games the Lions play against the Super Rugby franchises, which will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in match fees.

Chief executive Bill Pulver has indicated he wants to use some of the windfall from the tour to establish a third-tier competition, probably in the form of a feeder or support league to the Super Rugby franchises.

Mr Pulver met the ARU board for the first time on Monday, when his plan was discussed along with other issues such as the organisation’s pending corporate governance review, which will devolve power away from NSW and Queensland.